YOUTH LEADERSHIP PROGRAM – LOCAL PARTNER | BH 008 FY2024

Opportunity Information: Apply for BH 008 FY2024

The Youth Leadership Program - Local Partner grant (Funding Opportunity Number BH 008 FY2024) is a discretionary U.S. Embassy Sarajevo Public Diplomacy Section (PDS) award intended to fund a Bosnia and Herzegovina-based organization to run the Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) portion of the 2025-2026 Youth Leadership and Teacher Professional Development Program, subject to the availability of FY 2023/2024 Assistance to Europe, Eurasia and Central Asia (AEECA) funds. The award is structured as a grant with an anticipated single award, with funding up to an award ceiling of $130,000. The overall effort supports public diplomacy goals, particularly strengthening mutual understanding between people in BiH and the United States through youth exchange, leadership development, and sustained civic engagement after participants return home.

Eligible applicants are public or private non-profit organizations that are based and legally registered in Bosnia and Herzegovina. A key expectation is that the applicant can operate across the entire country, either directly or by working in partnership with other organizations, which reflects the program's emphasis on inclusivity and the ability to reach participants from different administrative divisions and communities. The opportunity is listed under the education activity category (CFDA 19.900) and was originally posted on April 12, 2024, with an original closing date of June 28, 2024.

Program design is tightly defined around mandatory components. The local partner must organize the Youth Leadership Program cohort for 21 total participants: 18 high school students between ages 15 and 19 and three teachers. These participants must be selected from three different communities in BiH in a way that reflects the country's diversity and administrative structure. The intent is to ensure representation across varied local contexts and perspectives, rather than concentrating participation in a single city or region.

While the core exchange experience includes a substantial three-to-four-week U.S. program, that U.S.-based portion is carried out by a separate U.S. implementing partner. The BiH local partner is responsible for the BiH component that wraps around the U.S. exchange. This includes a pre-departure orientation in Sarajevo to prepare participants for the U.S. program and expectations, as well as an extended follow-on phase after they return. That follow-on phase lasts eight months and centers on participants designing and implementing Community Action Projects (CAPs) in their home communities, turning what they learned into practical local initiatives.

The content requirements prioritize active learning and leadership skills that translate into real-world community work. The program must incorporate group discussions, experiential learning, and structured exercises aligned to the program themes, and it must deliberately build leadership and teamwork capacity, collective problem-solving, effective communication, appreciation of diversity, and management skills. The expectation is that participants gain both theory and practical tools, so the activities should move beyond lectures into hands-on planning, collaboration, and implementation practice that supports the CAP work.

The grant also places strong emphasis on diversity of viewpoints and broad social inclusion. Activities and materials should represent a range of BiH political and social perspectives and other forms of diversity, reinforcing the Embassy's public diplomacy mission. In practical terms, this means the local partner should be prepared to demonstrate how recruitment, facilitation, community engagement, and project selection will avoid narrow representation and instead encourage respectful engagement across differences.

Finally, applicants must include a clear plan for follow-on support once participants return from the United States. This is not meant to be a passive alumni period; the local partner is expected to guide, oversee, and sustain engagement while CAPs are being implemented over the eight-month timeline. A competitive proposal would therefore describe how the organization will mentor participants, monitor progress, address implementation challenges, and keep the cohort engaged so that the U.S. exchange experience results in visible community-level outcomes in BiH.

• The U.S. Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina in the education sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "YOUTH LEADERSHIP PROGRAM – LOCAL PARTNER" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 19.900.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2024-04-12.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2024-06-28. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $130,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 1 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Others.

Apply for BH 008 FY2024

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